---
title: The bear permitted them to amuse themselves in this way, only occasi… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: The bear permitted them to amuse themselves in this way, only occasionally calling out, when it went a little too far, "Children, spare me an inch of life." Who acts: bear, way. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Snow-white and Rose-red, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Snow-white and Rose-red, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bear permitted them to amuse themselves in this way, only occasionally calling out, when it went a little too far, "Children, spare me an inch of life."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bear, way · **What happens:** permit, amuse, call out, go, spare · **To what, where:** children, way, little, bear · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Snow-white and Rose-red. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear, way), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg11027:23:34
# text = The bear permitted them to amuse themselves in this way, only occasionally calling out, when it went a little too far, "Children, spare me an inch of life."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	permitted	permit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	amuse	amuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	occasionally	occasionally	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
15	out	out	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	too	too	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	Children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	inch	inch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **permit** | past | the bear | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer they=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **amuse** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the bear *not said here* | children *= child* |  | this way |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus themselves=Experiencer |
| 3 | **call out** *speech: assert* | gerund | the bear *not said here* | Children |  |  |  | occasionally *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **go** | past | way | a little |  |  |  | far *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **spare** *in a quote* | infinitive | the bear *not said here* |  | the bear *= bear* |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent i=Recipient inch=Asset |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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